Themes: Opposites Attract, Haunted By the Past, Age Disparity Romance
Main Cast: Joan Crawford, Cliff Robertson, Vera Miles, Lorne Greene, Ruth Donnelly
Release Year: 1956
Country: US
Run Time: 108 minutes
Plot
Few actresses other than Joan Crawford could have successfully pulled off the melodramatic excesses of Autumn Leaves. Though a very attractive fortysomething, Crawford remains aloof from romance until she meets Cliff Robertson, a young man half her age. An ardent and persistent suitor, Robertson finally breaks down her resistence to marriage. After a few weeks of wedded bliss, Crawford is confronted by Vera Miles, who claims to be Robertson's first wife. Miles further insists that Robertson is mentally unbalanced...and his subsequent behavior seems to bear this out. What Crawford doesn't know-but the audience does-is that the real villains of the piece are Miles and her middle-aged lover, Robertson's own father (Lorne Greene). Autumn Leaves works far better on screen than it does in print, thanks to the virtuoso performances of practically everyone in the cast. And, as anyone who's listened to top-40 radio during the past four decades already knows, the film also yielded a hit title song, written by Joseph Kosma, Jacques Prevert, and Johnny Mercer and performed during the credits by Nat King Cole. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Spinsterish Millicent "Millie" Wetherby (Crawford) works at home as a self-employed typist. One evening in a diner, she meets a lonely young man named Burt Hanson. They take a liking to one another and begin dating. When Burt proposes, Millie accepts and they marry. Burt's ex-wife Virginia (Vera Miles) and his father (Lorne Greene) abruptly enter the scene. Burt is haunted by the day when he discovered his wife and father making love; he begins displaying signs of mental instability with their sudden, unwelcomed presence in his life. When he becomes violent, Millie sends him to a mental hospital. His condition improves with treatment, and he severs connections with his past. Millie happily discovers he still loves her and they look forward to a brighter future. Cast includes Ruth Donnelly as Millie's landlady Liz, Marjorie Bennett as a diner waitress, and Frank Gerstle as Mr. Ramsey.
Song
The film's original title was The Way We Are but was changed to capitalize on the success of the then popular tune "Autumn Leaves" as sung by Nat King Cole. Cole's rendition is used over the film's title sequence. The song's original title is "Les feuilles mortes" with music by Joseph Kosma and lyrics by Jacques Prévert. English lyrics were written by the American songwriter Johnny Mercer (1949). The song was introduced by Yves Montand in 1946 for the film Les Portes de la Nuit.
Reception
Although Bosley Crowther panned the film in the New York Times of August 2, 1956, (calling it a "dismal tale")[1] Lawrence Quirk in Motion Picture Herald and William Zinsser in the New York Herald Tribune commented favorably upon the film.[2]Autumn Leaves was a modest box-office success, chiefly among Crawford's female fans. The actress thought highly of the film, deeming it the "best older woman/younger man movie ever made," and added, "Everything clicked on Autumn Leaves. The cast was perfect, the script was good, and I think Bob [Aldrich] handled everything well. I really think Cliff did a stupendous job; another actor might have been spitting out his lines and chewing the scenery, but he avoided that trap. I think the movie on a whole was a lot better than some of the romantic movies I did in the past...but somehow it just never became better known. It was eclipsed by the picture I did with Bette Davis."[3]
The film has grown in stature among Aldrich fans since its 1956 premiere and is now regarded as one of the director's best films. Dan Callahan of Slant Magazine (June 16, 2004) wrote, "All of Aldrich's early work is intriguing, but Autumn Leaves is his secret gem. It's been passed over as camp because of its star, Joan Crawford, but Aldrich brings all his hard edges to this woman's picture. The collision of his tough style with the soapy material makes for a film that never loses its queasy tension."[4]
Awards
Best Directorial Award (Aldrich), Berlin International Film Festival 1956.
